President Donald Trump congratulated Nissan on Wednesday for committing to producing and selling more cars in the United States, touting his use of tariffs for the domestic manufacturing boom.
“Wow! Congratulations to Nissan, and Christian Meunier, Americas Chairman, on the tremendous success they are having in the U.S.,” he wrote on Truth Social. “They have moved most of their production to our great Country, largely because of Tariffs, and the results are AMAZING!!!”
The president’s message was posted shortly after Christian Meunier, chairman of Nissan Americas, spoke with Fox Business about the automobile manufacturer’s reshoring strategy.
The tariffs are “really pushing all the manufacturers to do the right thing, which is really to build locally and to sell in the U.S.,” Meunier said on Mornings with Maria.
“In the last 12 months, we’ve been increasing the proportion of cars that we build in the U.S. for the U.S.,” he added. “A year ago, 45% of our mix sold in the U.S. was made in the U.S. — we’re more than two-thirds today, and we’ll go to 80%.”
The executive also said Nissan is planning to roll out its new hybrid technology in the next 18 months and to hire more domestic employees. The company employs about 20,000 people in the U.S., he noted.
Nissan placed more emphasis on domestic manufacturing last year after Trump unveiled tariffs that would have taxed imported cars.
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As part of its restructuring plan, the Japanese carmaker is moving to close seven of its 17 global manufacturing plants in Mexico and elsewhere by next year and cut some 20,000 jobs. Its three primary domestic manufacturing facilities are located in Tennessee and Mississippi. In the latter state, a vehicle assembly plant may have to be restructured because of the production challenges it faces.
The plant in Canton, Mississippi, is on track to be transformed into an electric vehicle production facility with a $500 million investment from Nissan. The plant currently produces gas-powered vehicles.